To most audiences, Jason Staham is one of the last old-school action stars still working in the movie business, and they’re not wrong. Statham immortalized himself in the genre by headlining franchises like The Expendables trilogy and the Fast Saga. Even if he was a late addition to the Fast and Furious movies, he felt like he always belonged in its high-octane world of muscle cars and larger-than-life action heroes and villains. On his own, Statham made a name for himself by starring in a seemingly endless number of gritty action movies that hearkened back to the genre’s glory days. Some of his biggest solo hits include The Beekeeper, the Crank duology, and especially The Transporter trilogy.

But believe it or not, Statham wasn’t always an action star. In fact, his first two movies — namely Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch — were bizarre crime comedies. What’s more, Staham didn’t even portray a badass in these movies. Truth be told, he was a pathetic loser and con artist in his cinematic debut. But even if this were the case, the two movies in question helped turn Statham into the movie star he is today. More importantly, Statham himself acknowledges that he owes his entire acting career to them. As far as he’s concerned, these are the two movies from his extensive filmmography that his fans should watch.

Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels & Snatch Spotlighted Jason Staham’s Unsung Acting Range

The Action Star Could Do Much More Than Just Punch People and Drive Fast

While promoting the 2023 action movie Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, Collider asked Statham to recommend one of his movies to viewers who may not be familiar with his onscreen persona and body of work. The actor didn’t have to think long to pick a movie before throwing in one more as a bonus:

Jason Statham:
You know, I’m very fond of those old Guy Ritchie movies that I did. So
I would say maybe
Snatch
, maybe [
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
].
It would be a flip of the coin on those two, I think, just because I think they were so instrumental in my career. I’ve done movies that are more focused on me as a centerpiece, but I think those early Guy Ritchie movies are just… I don’t know anyone that couldn’t enjoy them, really.

It’s obvious that Statham has a personal fondness and connection to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, and it’s easy to see why. Firstly, the two movies were the start of his fruitful professional relationship and lifelong friendship with writer/director Guy Ritchie. Their decades-long collaboration began when Ritchie was scouting for someone “authentic” to portray the street-smart con artist Bacon in his feature film debut, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Statham, who actually grew up selling bootleg merchandise on the street, quickly got the role after he impressed the filmmaker with his “patter.” A few years later, Ritchie and Statham worked together again for Snatch. This time, Statham took on the role of the fixed boxing promoter, Turkish.

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Despite the actor’s current leading status and high profile, both Bacon and Turkish were small timers in big ensembles. They were petty crooks whose next-to-worthless presence in London’s criminal underworld didn’t stop them from being overconfident braggarts. They were the complete antithesis of Statham’s current onscreen persona. In fact, they were the kinds of smart-mouthed losers who Statham would shoot in the face in his later and bigger roles. However, Bacon and Turkish highlighted one of Statham’s most underrated assets as an actor: his impeccable comic timing and hilariously dry delivery.

Today, Statham is best known for playing stoic badasses who let their actions and fists do all the talking. But when he was just starting out, Statham stole every scene he was in by trying and (almost always) failing to talk his way out of fights. If all else failed, he resorted to sarcastic insults and childish comebacks. Statham’s sardonic performances and Ritchie’s verbosely vulgar dialogue were a match made in heaven. But in a twist of fate, Statham was typecast as an action star of few words rather than a snarky character actor thanks to his breakout role in The Transporter a few years later. While it’s great that Statham reinvented himself so quickly for mainstream audiences after he broke through with two indie hits, it’s a shame that most of his succeeding movies never tapped into his comic potential.

The best that his later action movies had to offer in terms of comedy were the usual action hero one-liners and quips, especially in The Expendables movies and Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw. The only real exceptions were Gnomeo and Juliet and Spy. But unlike Bacon and Turkish, Statham portrayed knowing parodies of himself in these comedies, not characters who were already funny on their own. That’s not to say that his performance in either movie was bad, but it would’ve been much better if he got comedic roles that weren’t just riffing on his already-established reputation. Statham is the rare action star who has more range than he lets on. Unfortunately, his action star persona overshadows his other talents. Hopefully, he gets to unleash his style of humor on the big screen sooner rather than later.

Almost 30 Years Later, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels & Snatch Are Still Jason Statham’s Best Movies

The Two Movies Helped Redefine the Modern Crime Genre

The fact that Statham’s two most renowned and referenced movies aren’t part of the action genre speaks a lot to their quality and lasting impact. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch are snappy dialogue-driven crime comedies where violent action is only occasional and blunt, yet always meaningful and impactful. Their most iconic moments were quotable conversations, not entertaining gun battles and flurries of fisticuffs like anything seen in Statham’s later movies. But even so, they showed just how great (and even funny) an actor Statham can be. They also proved how amazing Ritchie was as a filmmaker when he was given full control of his projects. Fans of Statham and Ritchie always revisit these two movies to have a good time, and to remind themselves of the kinds of movies the actor and filmmaker rarely (if ever) make these days.

That said, these movies aren’t just home to two of Statham’s best performances, and Ritchie’s artistic template. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch are also two of the most important and influential entries in the crime genre’s resurgence that began in the ’90s, and never really slowed down. Ritchie was part of a wave of groundbreaking filmmakers who rose to prominence during those pivotal years in the filmmaking industry. This was a time when unorthodox indie filmmakers broke through both the studio system and audiences, thus kick-starting a brief but exciting gold rush of auteur-driven movies made for the mainstream. Many of these filmmakers thrived in the decade’s crime genre renaissance, especially in edgy crime-comedies.

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Among Ritchie’s contemporaries were, obviously, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. Despite being separated by literal continents, their works complemented one another. Ritchie was essentially the British combination of Tarantino and Rodriguez. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch boasted stylishly self-indulgent scripts in the vein of Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, and heightened violence on par with what Rodriguez showed in Desperado. What separated Ritchie from Tarantino’s and Rodriguez’s myriad of subpar imitators was that his authorial voice was eye-catching, distinct, and unique. Ritchie wasn’t just another copycat; he was a talented filmmaker who had his own style and unique vision of British crime fiction that he wanted to share with the world.

Besides introducing audiences to Statham and Ritchie and being part of the burst of interest in British media in the 2000s, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch also reshaped the crime genre in ways that can still be seen and felt today. Whether today’s crime filmmakers realize it or not, their talkative hoodlums, eccentric gangsters, snazzy editing and darkly dry humor owe something to Statham’s and Ritchie’s breakout movies. After all, Tarantino wasn’t the first or only filmmaker to write jarringly verbose and erudite killers, nor is this idea exclusive to him. Snatch’s impact was so great that its opening credits were homaged even in anime, specifically Baccano! Ritchie gave this archetype a fresh new spin, and Statham brought Ritchie’s characters to life with unforgettable bravado. Although these movies may not be as frequently referenced and quoted as Pulp Fiction, their lasting influence on crime fiction is unmistakable and irreplaceable.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch are now available to watch and own physically and digitally.

• 

  Eddy persuades his three pals to pool money for a vital poker game against a powerful local mobster, Hatchet Harry. Eddy loses, after which Harry gives him a week to pay back 500,000 pounds.

  Director

  Guy Ritchie

  Release Date

  August 28, 1998

  Cast

  Jason Flemyng , Dexter Fletcher , Nick Moran , sting , Jason Statham , Vinnie Jones

  Writers

  Guy Ritchie

  Runtime

  1 hour 47 minutes

  Main Genre

  Action

  Production Company

  Summit Entertainment, The Steve Tisch Company, SKA Films, HandMade Films, Polygram Filmed Entertainment

  Expand

• 

  Snatch

  Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.

  Director

  Guy Ritchie

  Release Date

  December 6, 2000

  Cast

  Vinnie Jones , Jason Statham , Brad Pitt , Benicio Del Toro , Stephen Graham

  Writers

  Guy Ritchie

  Runtime

  1 hour 42 minutes

  Main Genre

  Comedy

  Production Company

  Columbia Pictures, SKA Films

  Expand